{"nrhp_refnum":"13000708","name":"Fort Monroe (Boundary Increase & Additional Documentation)","other_names":["Vdhr # 114-0002"],"category":"district","location":{"address":null,"address_restricted":true,"city":"Fort Monroe","county":"Hampton","state":"VA","lat":37.003611,"lon":-76.3075,"geom_source":"wikidata"},"listed_date":"2015-03-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Engineering","Black","Architecture","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Historic - Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fort Monroe is a large masonry fortress and military reservation on Old Point Comfort at the northern end of U.S. 258 in Hampton, Virginia, built between 1819 and 1847 and designed by Simon Bernard, with later detached coastal batteries.","why_significant":"The form calls it the largest fortress ever built in America, tied to figures such as Robert E. Lee, Edgar Allan Poe, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. It was a haven for escaped slaves in the Civil War and home to the Army's first artillery school. Its remaining batteries show the development of coast artillery from 1824 to 1904.","narrative":"Fort Monroe is a seven-sided stone fortress on Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, built between 1819 and 1847 to a design by Simon Bernard, a former aide to Napoleon I. It covers sixty-three acres, and the nominated area includes all land within the sea wall, including the 1802 Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, Engineer Wharf, officers' quarters and detached Endicott-era gun batteries. The fort was meant to protect the channel from Chesapeake Bay into Hampton Roads and became the keystone of a chain of coastal forts. It stayed in Union hands throughout the Civil War and became a refuge for escaped slaves after 1861. Jefferson Davis was held in one of its casemates after the war. Robert E. Lee served here as a young engineer, and Edgar Allan Poe served as a private. The Army's first artillery school was founded here in 1824 and remained, with interruptions, until 1946. The batteries show the coast artillery era.","period_of_significance":"1819-1946","architect_builder":"Simon Bernard (designer, former aide to Napoleon I)","architectural_style":"Seven-sided bastioned fortress after the Vauban plan; Endicott-era batteries","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as publicly owned (Department of the Army) and occupied, with a dense mix of historic and contemporary structures; Battery Anderson/George Ruggles is described as crumbling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.939327-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/6811/41681127/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/66000912.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/13000708/240c6dfba0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/13000708/240c6dfba0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Monroe_Aerial.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Monroe_Aerial.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":null,"wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Monroe","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1438639"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/hampton/fort-monroe-boundary-increase-and-additional-documentation-13000708/"}